The Guarded One ✔

Chapter Twenty-One

I twist the knob slowly, turning off the water in the shower. I wrap my dark blue towel around my waist before walking through the changing rooms.

I sigh as putting on my boxer shorts, dark denim jeans, a grey t-shirt and pale green combat jacket. I look down at my wristwatch, that read one thirty am.

Today is Duncan and Hayden's eighteen birthday; she should be celebrating but instead is laying in a hospital bed.

It's now December and Jess' first day back at school. She looks healthier and now has colour in her cheeks. Hayden, on the other hand, has been in a coma for a month now and the doctors say that she isn't improving.

An hour later I walked through the hallways where I find Duncan and Jess walking quickly in my direction.

"Happy birthday" I greet him with a smile.

"Did you hear?" Duncan cries in a panic.

Odd. Duncan loves his birthday, almost as much as he loves Hayden. Why isn't he jumping around like a lunatic?

"What?" I furrow my brows.

"Glimmer has been fired" Jess announces.

My biology teacher. Why?

"Fired?" I widen my eyes in confusion.

"Yeah he's being investigated by the police," Duncan explains while breathing heavily, "he's a...."

He was so excited to tell me the latest gossip that he's out of breath?

"A what?" I roll my eyes.

"Rapist" he spits out.

I pause for a moment.

I shake my head in disbelief. A rapist? Glimmer is a rapist? As in the guy who taught me cell division?

"Rumours have it that he's confessed to raping one of his students" Jess finishes.

I furrow my brows whilst searching the area with my eyes. Everyone is whispering, all about the same thing. For once it isn't me or my friends.

"Do we know who?" I lower my voice.

They both shake their head simultaneously.

"Wait till Hayden gets a load of this" Duncan folds his arms.

"Are you going to see her tonight?" Jess asks me.

"Jason's been going every night Jess" Duncan explains to her.

That was true. However, it's not something that I shared with anyone.

Jess snaps her head in my direction with sadness in her eyes.

"Oh" is the only thing she says before the bell goes.

***

Straight after school, I drive to the hospital. My shaking hands around the steering wheel while I study for my biology test tomorrow. Hell, now that Glimmers gone, there probably won't be a test.

When I arrive at the hospital, I find Hayden's mother in tears and her father trying to comfort her. The three of us have grown close since Hayden's accident. We've all started to watch the soap operas that the hospital always has on at this time of night.

"Is everything okay?" I ask them fearfully.

They exchange the same nervous look before her mother starts crying again. Hayden's dad puts a hand on my shoulder before sighing. It's then when he explains to me what the doctors have told them — that she should have woken up by now. Because of this, the doctors recommend turning off her life support.

"We're not going to" Hayden's mother assures with tears streaming down her pale cheeks, "but that's what we've been told"

"So you're not considering it?" I raise a brow. Her father shakes his head hesitantly. My stomach knots up from the look in their eyes. "Next time...try being a little more convincing" with that I walk past them, entering Hayden room.

There she lays pale as a ghost. A thick tube in her open mouth, as well as through both arms.

Why did she do it? Why did she try to run away? All of this could have been prevented but now her parents might turn her off.

I take a seat beside her bed and take her hand.

"Happy birthday" I start slowly. "you know Duncan hasn't spoken about the fact that it's his birthday...never thought I'd see the day...last year you made me drive you around San Francisco...so this year I was thinking that I would....." I trail off as looking at her pale face.

"The doctors have recommended turning off her life support"

"We're not going to but that's what we've been told"

"You're not considering it?"

"Look you need to come out of this..." I struggle to speak.

I take my flask from my breast pocket before taking a sip of bourbon. Lately, drinking has helped me escape this world and my loud mind for a while. It makes this world easier to live in. It makes life a little more bearable.

"...If you don't soon they'll turn you off....then who else is going to call at two in the morning to drive around San Francisco?" I say.

Suddenly her body begins jerking, making the machines scream a loud siren. I take a step back while doctors enter the room.

Another seizure.

That's all she's been having lately.

I don't recognize my best friend anymore and I fear, that if she does come out of this, I'll never be able to look at her the same again. I'm ashamed to admit that. But the truth is, whenever I blink I see Hayden's seizures. Her helpless body laying there with her arms and legs swinging back and forth.

I want what I see to be Hayden sitting in the passenger seat of my car, turning up the volume on the radio.

Not here, laying in a hospital bed.